Published

The Kimmel School of Perfect Acting With Matt Damon, Jennifer Aniston, More

In honor of the Oscars, which took place last night, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel made a mockumentary about an acting school catering to some of Hollywood’s best and brightest. The Kimmel School of Perfect Acting essentially succeeds in ridiculing some of the stereotypes in the film industry.

Kimmel dons all-black and accessorizes with an impressive beret collection (seriously, where did he find the fuzzy one??) and tacky glasses to play an eccentric acting teacher.

Not only does he criticize Eddie Redmayne’s posh British accent, he also uses rival Matt Damon as a chair and forces his actors to undertake odd acting exercises. Sean Penn gets to experience “smack”-ting, an exercise in which Kimmel smacks him on the head with a pool noodle every time he says a line wrong. (Penn deserved it after that green card joke he made at the Oscars last night, just saying.)

But with all of his eccentricities, Kimmel’s teaching is highly commended by his students, which include the likes of Susan Sarandon, Lupita Nyong’o and Jeff Bridges. Bridges even goes so far to say that “Jim is the dude behind The Dude… Not in a gay way…” Kimmel is also quite a generous teacher and when students can’t afford the classes, he works with them. And when Kimmel says he “works with his students,” he really means you get to be his personal assistant. Just ask Gary Oldman — he does Kimmel’s laundry and walks his many pet piglets in exchange for financial aid.

I quite enjoyed this “documentary” about Kimmel’s acting school. I was elated to see all of these A-listers, many of them better known for their dramatic performances, participate in something goofy like this. They say Hollywood is not what it used to be and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. With Ellen DeGeneres’s star-studded selfie last year and Kimmel’s silly acting school, it’s probably a good thing that Hollywood has loosened up.

After all, the Academy has to keep up with us “youngsters” these days if they want to stay relevant. Not all of us are crusty middle-aged white men, you know.